Sign of the (Lap) Times: Phoenix

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After a wet Anaheim 1, we all were anticipating the outcome that a dry track surface would bring. We really didn’t expect to see that many new faces up near the front, but there were definitely a few guys—Jake Weimer, Josh Hansen, Charles Summey—who redeemed themselves in Phoenix. The difficulty of the track was downplayed by James Stewart as being “easy,” but the racing was tight in both classes. Let’s take a look at the tale of the transponders.

In the Lites class it was Rockstar Makita Suzuki’s Ryan Dungey setting the fastest time in the class with a 47.541, which would put him in fifth in the AMA Supercross class.

Phoenix winner Jake Weimer was right on pace with Dungey, as his lap time was only .048 seconds slower.

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Brett Metcalfe found his groove in the dry conditions, surely making Mitch Payton a bit happier after Austin Stroupe failed to qualify, logging the third-fastest Lites time. In fact, the 10 fastest Lites riders all had lap times within a second of the leader! And the time differential from the fastest to the slowest Lites rider in the main event was only 2.434 seconds. That’s close.

Biggest Surprise: We see the usual suspects at the top of the heap, but here’s a nod to rookie pro Wil Hahn who was the seventh fastest Lites rider on his Lucas Oil/Star Racing Yamaha in only his second AMA Supercross Lites main event. Both his finish and lap time was better than that of his older brother Tommy, and Wil is currently tied with Weimer for sixth in points. He also pens a very entertaining column in Racer X Illustrated every month, so pick up a copy and give #99 a read.

No surprises here as both James Stewart and Chad Reed logged the two fastest times in the premier class, with Stewart getting the nod with his 45.982—the only rider to dip into the 45-second range. Reed was second with a 46.333, followed by Honda Red Bull Racing’s Andrew Short (47.316) and Monster Kawasaki’s Tim Ferry (47.503).

The time differential between the fastest and slowest rider in the SX class (James Stewart and Jeff Gibson) was 3.759 seconds.

Biggest Surprise: It’s good to see both of the JGRMX/Toyota/Yamaha riders Hansen and Summey up in the top-ten mix. After a forgettable debut in Anaheim (Hansen finished 20th, Summey did not qualify), the duo rebounded in the dry conditions with Lil’ Hanny recording the 10th quickest time (47.969) on the #100 machine, and Summey not far behind with the 12th fastest (48.121) time on their way to finishing 8th and 9th, respectively.